What grade?
Children's sermon
Object:
a marker and pad and today's newspaper
Good morning. I was reading this morning's paper and
noticed some things that have happened recently. (Here you can
lift positive items from the paper of things people have done
well: heroic actions, high test scores, new inventions, and so
forth.) If we were teachers giving these people grades, what
kind of grade would we give? (At this point go through each of
the articles mentioned earlier and give each character a grade.
You could even give lesser characters in today's news lower
grades. Young children will not understand the concept of
grades.)
Today we hear about Jesus curing a woman's daughter. She was a woman who many people of Jesus' background thought not worthy of Jesus' time and attention. But Jesus healed her daughter anyway. Not only that, but Jesus also healed a man who could not hear and who had great difficulty talking. Can you tell me how Jesus healed this man so he could hear and talk? (Let them answer.) He took the man aside from the others and put his fingers into the man's ears and on his tongue and said a funny-sounding word: EPHPHATHA! That is a word that means "be opened."
Then what happened? (Let them answer.) The man could hear and he could speak plainly! Imagine that! Jesus healed this man and the sick girl. The people were so amazed with Jesus they said, "He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."
What grade do you think the people would have given Jesus? (Let them answer.) I'm sure they would have given Jesus an A because he did so well.
We may not always do things well and may not always get A's in school, but we do know that Jesus did everything well. That's good to know because the people Jesus healed needed someone who could actually make them better. Today, through our hospitals and medicine and doctors, we try to help people get better, too. I'm so glad God sent Jesus. Jesus gets an A+ for doing so well and doing so many good things for hurting people.
Dearest Jesus: Thank you for doing well and healing people. Amen.
Today we hear about Jesus curing a woman's daughter. She was a woman who many people of Jesus' background thought not worthy of Jesus' time and attention. But Jesus healed her daughter anyway. Not only that, but Jesus also healed a man who could not hear and who had great difficulty talking. Can you tell me how Jesus healed this man so he could hear and talk? (Let them answer.) He took the man aside from the others and put his fingers into the man's ears and on his tongue and said a funny-sounding word: EPHPHATHA! That is a word that means "be opened."
Then what happened? (Let them answer.) The man could hear and he could speak plainly! Imagine that! Jesus healed this man and the sick girl. The people were so amazed with Jesus they said, "He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."
What grade do you think the people would have given Jesus? (Let them answer.) I'm sure they would have given Jesus an A because he did so well.
We may not always do things well and may not always get A's in school, but we do know that Jesus did everything well. That's good to know because the people Jesus healed needed someone who could actually make them better. Today, through our hospitals and medicine and doctors, we try to help people get better, too. I'm so glad God sent Jesus. Jesus gets an A+ for doing so well and doing so many good things for hurting people.
Dearest Jesus: Thank you for doing well and healing people. Amen.
